The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Taran Killam

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

Taran Killam joins Andy Richter to discuss joining "MAD TV" at nineteen, how that brief stint prepared him for "Saturday Night Live," performing on Broadway at the same time as his wife, his new NBC sitcom "Stumble," the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, and much more.Do you want to talk to Andy live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Tell us your favorite dinner party story (about anything!) - leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Listen to "The Andy Richter Call-In Show" every Wednesday at 1pm Pacific on SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Channel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the three questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter, and today I'm talking to Terran Killam. He's an actor, comedian, and filmmaker. You've seen him on Saturday Night Live, Hamilton on Broadway, the TV show Single Parents, and much more. You can see him now on the new NBC sitcom Stumble and the second season of high potential on ABC. Here's my conversation with Terran Killam. I love your shirt, by the way. Oh, thank you. We made a donation when they switched to the new spot. Yeah, my kids, they've been going to see their shows for a million years. It's such a great, such a great institution. I love, like, I'm like, do not update a single fucking thing. No.

You know. The older and weirder, the marionette, the better. If you ever, if I go like to the Christmas. show and I don't hear three happy chappies and snappy serappies. I'm going to be so mad. The 25th of the 12th.

No, exactly right. Or the hat I got for Christmas is too big. It's just marionette theater. And they have everything is 70 years old. And the puppets, and the puppets are amazing. The marionettes are amazing.

But they're like, you know, they keep those up. But like the musical notes. And there's like... But the staff, too, is quite youthful. Yes. Like the staff, like the puppeteers, like, they're constantly... It's a really cool.

Yeah. Really cool institution. But they have, like, you know, like sexy fan dancer poodles. Yes. You know, like, oh, those poodles are hot. Yeah, it's very hot, poodles. Well, Taryn, how are you? I'm good, my friend.

I'm happy to see you. Life is good. Yeah, very little, very few complaints from me right now. Yeah. I just got into town. I'm working in New York right now. Oh, really? Yeah.

What are you doing over there? Doing a new NBC show called Stumble. Okay. College cheerleading, which is super fun. Thus far, a dream. Is it kind of like a mockumentary kind of thing? It exactly is. It's nearly directly inspired by the Netflix documentary cheer, which was a big deal in the pandemic.

Yeah. And Monica Aldama, who is the coach that that documentary focused on, is a producer on this show. So all of the cheerleading is done at, like, the highest level. Oh, really? So it's like, it's me doing dumb candy jokes and then like people flipping through the air. So it's pretty cool. So even, so the performers have to be. They have legit. Yeah, gymnasts. They have legitimate gymnasts. We have, there's two from Monica's team in Navarro in Texas, Corey and Tati, who are amazing, who are like folding into the cast. But yeah, I thought that you would have a special appreciation for like the physicalness, the

physical requirements of choreography and yeah yeah oh it's so funny because like i'm i had the flu last week oh man and i you know i missed a day of rehearsal on the dancing show and and um and i i haven't felt like this is the first time i've ever had a tv job where getting sick and having my voice be fucked up didn't matter didn't matter like i mean honestly for my whole career i have there have been, you know, if you get sick and your voice is fucked up, it's like it's stressful. A death sound, yeah, yeah, you can't. And so many different. And you have to fake it. Yeah, yeah, you have to break it. Yeah. As you're doing all this physical exertion, perform repetition, too, I'm sure you're feeling a difference in your physicality. Oh, absolutely. In your, in your

cardiovascular system. Absolutely. And as you got sick, I have noticed in my past, like, oh, I'm getting in good shape. And then when I get sick, it's worse because there's something about the malaise of, like, steady as she goes, jack in the box die. Right, right, right. Yeah. That sick is kind of like I'm slightly more uncomfortable now. I feel a little shitty all the time. Exactly. So this is just the knob turned to live. Yeah, yeah, no, I know what you mean.

Yeah. Um, yeah. And well, and I don't know, I don't know whether it's like, because this is just, it was the flu. It was like specific. It was influenza A. Chills. And yeah, and just feeling shitty. Yeah. And I didn't even really, I had like a fever like for a minute. Okay. And that was like three days in for some reason.

Oh, wow. Because I missed one day. And this is not the way to have the flu anyway to miss one day of rehearsal, but then go to rehearsals and spend four hours in a cold, clammy sweat. Oh, yeah. Doing the dance number and then sitting down. And then doing the clammy sweat dance number and doing that twice. And then on Saturday going and.

playing Celebrity Jeopardy on the same thing. Oh, my gosh, no way. Which in retrospect, now looking at it, it's like, oh, no wonder I lost. I was in a complete fucking fog of influenza. But yeah, I just, and I'm like, it is crazy. It's like, why have an I be, like, I wonder why I still sound like this. Yeah, right. Maybe it's from the fucking dancing.

Burning at a bold end. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah, no, I mean, it is really fun, but it is like. It's demanding, man. It's getting, yeah, it is getting to the point of, like, I, you know, I had a life. I had, I, there were things I used to do on a regular basis that, I've been, I've been driving on a fucking leaking tire for five days now. Sure.

Every morning, got to fill that fucker up. But these new tires, they're built to last. They want you to drive on it for a few weeks. I tried to go get it fixed once. Yeah. You know, and I'm like the guy that's like, I'm not getting a fucking assistant. I'm, you know, it's like, I could at least have them, you know, I could at least have them, you know, Take care of the car while you have a son for that.

Shivering and dancing all the same time. Yeah, I love dancing competent. I love dancing with the start. I love so you think you can dance because it is, I love dance in general and that I feel it expresses things that words cannot, but also it is a talent that you can't, you can kind of be naturally funny. You can kind of be born with a good singing voice, but you cannot fake good dancing. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. No, I, and that's the thing too about being. on this thing is you know and not even just the pros but like some of the some of the fellow contestants i just i watch i'm on i'll never do that yeah i can never ever do that what they just did like the beautiful picture that they just made all the way across the floor never right not with this fucking contraption well all you got to do to get back to your life is phone it in man just touch step touch step your way you're way back home see i can't and i can't do that either i can't half-ass it.

No way. I can't like tank it for, you know. No, no, no, no, no. I'm trapped by dance. I'm trapped by my passion. I'm trapped in the dance. And professionalism. Yeah, yeah.

No, that's the thing. It's a TV show and that's what I do. I make TV shows, you know. And you, you've been, you have show business in your family, right? There's a little bit. Yeah, I'm a, I'm an L.A. native. Like, L.A. County, most of my life, I've spent in L.A. county a little bit in San Bernardino County and then my stint in New York but yeah didn't you live

like up in Big Bear yeah yeah from like second grade to ninth grade was that when your parents were making meth or something correct yeah yeah yeah yeah good clean stuff too clear rock um yeah water up here yeah yeah yeah so show biz family adjacent because um for many reasons my my mother's musician my father started to be an actor and then and then attempted some musician musicianship as well, and then they had kids and someone who had to pay the bills. So he was a contractor for most of my life. But my mother's uncle by marriage was Robert Stack, which was very cool and very exciting. He was very generous to our family in terms of just, like he wrote college essay, like a recommendation letters for me.

Oh, wow. For getting into college. That's nice. My dad would do some work on their house, and I would like have lunch with Uncle Bob. And he'd be like, Terran, let me tell you about shooting the untouchables. It'd be great because back then the blanks they'd give you for your Tommy gun, they'd fire up. So you really felt like you were doing it. That's cool, man.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I want to hear about you doing the voiceover for Beavis and Budhead do America. Because that's what's cool to me right now. Or some of those unsolved mysteries. All the unsolved mysteries. Well, I pretty much got my sag card for being a reenactor on Unolved Mysteries. Yeah. Did you know pretty early on that you?

you were going to. Yeah. Yeah. Like church plays and community theater and didn't mind. And my mom took me and my younger siblings to a commercial agent. And I was the one like that could go into a room full of adults and be like, I love this sandwich. But fortunately was like not that success, just successful enough that it felt like possible

but at the same time kind of had a normal and my parents never forced me into it it was never like you gotta get you know if I said no that was respected but then in middle school high school theater

the theater program at Big Bear Middle School and Big Bear High School was sort of where I really felt myself and felt good and successful and then my mom encouraged me to audition for Loxa for the LA County High School for the arts

and I got in so I And was that, was that a freshman year you got in there? Sophomore year. When I started, it was only a three-year high school. Oh, wow. And now it's, now it's a full, full four-term, four-year high school with its own building. And it's really impressive.

No, I tried to get my, oh, okay. I tried to get my daughter, my older daughter. I mean, maybe the younger one I can get in there, or convince her, but I was like, to my daughter, because I just felt like, why How don't you go get around creative people as quickly as you can? Sure, sure. And I tried to get her into it. And also because it's free. Free, free is a good price.

But she said no. She was in a school. She was in her school K through 12. Would she have been a theater major or visual arts or music? Probably visual arts or music. Those were always the coolest kids. Yeah, because she's more kind of like a film person. Awesome.

Yeah, I think they have that. That's its own major now. Oh, is it? elective Friday course when I was there. It's so impressive. I enjoyed my time there. I've only grown to enjoy it even more in retrospect because of because of what you're exposed to. You're doing like, you know, you're doing Shakespeare and Ibsen and Sam Shepard scene work, you know, at 15, 16 years old that I don't think you can fully appreciate it when you're

there. But just the exposure to the academia is really like, I think, top, top notch. Yeah. I mean, do you learn math and science and shit? First half of the day, it's like 8 a.m. to noon is, like, actual academics like math science history. And then you get an hour for lunch. And then the back half of the day is all arts focused. It's all just dance, body, training, voice and speech, like script breakdown, like understanding the beats and the subtext of the written word. And it's really, it's such an impressive place.

Yeah. I might apply. Yeah, do it. do it like one of those caps with like a little propeller on top exactly hello teens um so that was i mean when you're there does it just solidify like yeah very much i gotta do this for a living very much so in that like i'd had kind of a childhood agent and then went away from it because i was like man this is dumb i want to i want to be a sports guy right right sports man narrator he was not You mean you wanted to play sports?

Yeah, yeah. My freshman year of high school, I tried out for basketball and baseball and like didn't make either team. And I've resented it every day since. No, it just, yeah. Didn't you make the Loxa baseball and basketball team? I was the entire Loxa baseball basketball team. It was just a performance, a one-man performance of damn Yankees.

Yeah, no, so it felt like it. But then I got back in touch with that agent. started auditioning again towards the end of my time at lockshead and then yeah started getting getting professional work oh really yeah and so that probably cut college short it did i went for a year i was a ucla bruin uh for one year and then and then yeah showbiz took took over my life didn't know how did your parents feel did they care mom was pissed about leaving because yeah to get into such a good state school right right right was a big win and um you could defer for six months months, but I left to do Mad TV, and I only ended up doing one season of Mad TV, and after that,

I think I could have pushed to go back, but I sort of knew that there were better opportunities for me professionally than to return to school. And yeah, there was a tough conversation with mom in particular. I remember of, like, I just, I don't understand why you're making this decision, you know? Yeah, yeah. And fortunately, I won. Stumble Fridays at 830 on NBC Virtually unemployable otherwise Yeah, exactly

Can't you tell my loves it grows Well now that's interesting because You're essentially a high school senior You know And you're going You're on in living color Or at TV I mean Sure, sure, sure, sure.

You're on mad TV. And that's, I mean, that's, that's tough. I was, it's hard on the ego to be put in, especially like a sketch show where, you know. Yeah, I think I was still healthfully arrogant at that point where it didn't, I was woefully underprepared. Like, I had not taken an improv class. I'd never done a stand-up set. So I was a good mimic. So I could do, like, impressions.

I could mock people. And, like, most of my audition was just me. doing WB characters, you know, like Dawson from Dawson's Creek and so on. And yeah, but everyone, so it was very stressful. I actually was asked back, but like at a reduced thing because they're like,

we don't know if Terran's ready, we like him and everybody loves him. And I really had the best time. I was like, a kid and a can't. I was like, I can't believe it. I used to watch this show. Right, right. My parents let me stay up and watch this show last year.

But everybody that, and it was mostly a, kind environment. And the people who really looked out for me, like Mike Hitchcock in particular, Jennifer Joyce, so many of the people that I really looked up to and was like, how are you so good at this had come from groundlings. Yeah. So post-Mad TV, I went back and started taking classes there because I was like, obviously they figured something out. Yeah, yeah. And that was the maybe best professional decision I've ever made. Just because so much of my current social life, so much of my confidence in what I do, all of it comes from my training at ground. Yeah, yeah. That's, that's,

I feel that way about, well, it's funny because I went, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, in Chicago, I was pretty much Improv Olympic. Yeah. Del Close and Sharna helped. Sure, sure. And then I did other things too, but that was where I, like, learned how to do the thing. Yeah. And then just practice the thing at other places. How much time did you get with Del? I mean, he's like, he's not a legend. No, Not a lot. Yeah, I mean, there were sort of group. He was the kind of person that, I mean, he was a genius guy. For people that don't know, he was like the supposed inventor of long form improv and a guru.

And, you know, but, and it had this like jazz life, you know, like heroin addiction and had, you know, hung out with carouac and all. I don't know, you know, just every sort of beating thing. His lesson to Farley, like his mantra to Farley of attack the stage is something I heard very early on in my life and still adhere to, you know, and constantly kind of evolve what that means. Like I think as a young, dumb, like, I'm the funniest one and I should be talking. It's like overtalking and it's too much. Yeah, yeah.

But the idea of full commitment. Yeah, I really accredit to a man I never met, but have read fascinating, wonderful things. about. Yeah, he, I was in his class, you know, and I, and I was, I took his classes, but he's, like I was, I was going to say, he's a kind of person that, uh, I gave him a ride home multiple times and he did not have a recollection that I, he had been in my Toyota, which is a Toyota pickup truck. Right. It only fits. Great, great car. Never going to break down on you. Yeah, yeah, but, but it's like, you know, that's hilarious. Twice he told me, he told me like, well, you're doing a very good job. You know, like, I don't know if it was just because I was driving him home. Turn left here. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I wasn't. Other people kind of really, you know, were at his knee.

In his atmosphere. Yeah, and I thought he was a wonderful teacher and stuff. And I have taken just the basics of improv, which, I mean, and just taken that now, which is just like leading with your intelligence and leading with truth and, you know, and all of that kind of thing. and also not not going for the joke sure you know like that that was that was kind of there was almost like and that was weird too but from starting out and i think i think it's a difference between like well not so much second city but like chicama like improv olympic the sort of like real

macho improviser attitude was if you do something once you can't do it again right yeah so the whole notion of like coming up with a funny character yeah and it's Like, it's like, well, that, that means there's no peewee Herman. Sure. You know, right, you know, that means there's no, you know, uh, uh, uh, grimly, the, you know, yeah, at grimly, you know, there's like all these wonderful characters that you just never see. Yes.

Um, but that was, that was in me. And so it was like, there was so much coming out here, like, you know, you did that one thing. It was good. I was like, yeah, but I mean, to the point where even in interviews, when I started giving interviews, when I was on TV. Everybody got a fresh one. I had to say a different thing each time.

And I very quickly was like, dummy, who gives a shit? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, work on this, say the same thing. Right. You know, get the story as good as it can so that by the time you're telling it, you know, to Byron Allen, it's really, it's really, it's really hits all the right notes. Dana Carvey hosted SNL when I was there, which was so exciting to me. And John Lovitz came and did a. cameo and in the monologue for him.

And to your point, I watch John Lovitz walk up to Dana Carvey and go, hello, Dana. And he goes, I have some notes. And he shows him a copy of his script where Dana's name is crossed out and he was written in John. Huge laugh. So great.

Everybody on stage loved it. Warren walks and he goes, Hello, Lorne. I have some notes. Same bit. Still good laugh. Same bit. Saw him do it three more times that day. Yeah.

You got to do it. It works. When it works, it works. Yeah, yeah. Did you ever, I mean, were you okay with, say, like, I'm going to be a comedy guy? I was there, because you were doing Ibsen and shit. Right, exactly. It took me while.

And I was a musical theater major at UCLA. I was going to do Broadway, and I was going to sing and dance. And, yeah, I remember the casting announcement for Mad TV was in TV Guide. And it was like, Mad TV hires comedians, Bobby Lee and Taryn Kill. And I'm like, well, wait, baby, be, excuse me, trained act tour. I am a fesbian. Trained comedic act tour at best. I have two semesters of UCLA, sir.

Do, does Bobby Lee know Suzuki dance body movement throwing the energy into the ground? Yeah, so it took me a while. And I think, you know, if I did have a gripe at Mad TV, I did, I did have like imposter syndrome of like, oh man, I want a contest. I've fooled everybody and love. my way into here, which I don't think is untrue. But then again, going back to Groundlings, that's where I sort of earned my stripes and could kind of make peace with, you know, by the time, by the time I got in a Sunday company, it's been five, six years of training.

Oh, wow. You kind of, yeah, you're in your place. I mean, that is the thing about Groundlings is, is, you know, it filters through so many. It really, it really limits itself to, I think, some really brilliant, strong comedic voices. because it's so regimented and it's so kind of political when you're done at a certain level they're like you're done

you can't take place which which is crazy because one take the money if they're only giving you the money for class but also you're cutting off great voices and that's what I always really respect about UCB it was much more everybody's welcome everybody gets stage time but I think the tradeoff is like

I really do vouch for the quality of groundling shows consistently because you know people have clawed their way into the upper echelon of really talented people and with UCB you'll see some of the funniest best mind-blowing stuff you can't see anywhere else and then you'll see everybody else as well yeah yeah yeah yeah so there's a trade-off but um i i really liked i really responded to groundlings because to your point of like situational relationship improv you know playing the reality and stuff where groundlings is certainly much more heightened character you know definitely more broad more you know

wigs and makeup and stuff. It's of this city. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, no, that's a good point. That's a great point. There's no time for like, you know, like, no, no, we must make. Salt of the Earth. Yeah, yeah.

We must take slow. No, I'm a star and you will recognize me as such. Yeah, no. That's true. I mean, it only makes sense that the comedy, the like sketch comedy college of Los Angeles is geared towards getting you a job in the industry. It's so true. It's very true.

Yeah. Yeah. And I, and it is true. Like, we were just, just before you got here, we were talking a little bit about, about college and about, you know, because my son just got out of art school. And, and how that, you know, like to get a degree is not, you know, it's like it doesn't matter when you're doing kind of the things we do. Yes, correct. But definitely, like, an internship. Like, definitely, you do need to.

Professional exposure. there has to be some sort of winnowing process that weeds out the people who aren't going to, and I don't know, you know, who weren't going to basically eat shit. Yes. Like you have to eat shit. Yes. You have to like, there's a lot of unpleasant stuff because doing this for a living is a wonderfully fun, amazing thing.

You do not just waltz into it, you know? Correct. Right. No, absolutely. I mean, even you, you kind of waltzed into it. And then they said, no, go back. Go to a dance class. Go to the shit restaurant. Yeah, exactly. No, it's so true. I think for longevity, without a doubt, I think for longevity, it's such a feast or famine industry, and you, one, have to love it.

Yeah. The desire has to be there, and in my snobby opinion, the right kind of desire. It has to be about art. It has to be about storytelling and performance and in exchange with an audience and not fame and fortune. Right. But I think you're right. And I think, I think, I think. think the environment to fail, my observation is there isn't that as much, there isn't small theaters where nobody's filming anymore. Yeah, yeah. It's really tricky. So where you fail is the first eight versions of your TikTok video that you film that nobody gets to see, right? And that's where you, and then inversely, because of that technology and because you can be a producer, star, content creator in your bedroom at 12, 13, 14, whatever age,

you're also getting these young phenom content creator influencers who explode out the, you know, like the Paul brothers, I think of as an example for that, you know, they created an entire empire by the time they're 21. Yeah, no. It's an interesting tradeoff where, you know, my old man mortality and insecurity goes, well you didn't trod the boards and earn it the hard way but at the same time I can't say that that's true I have I have such an antiquated old man attitude about all of that yes in the point where like I've had people in here like a guy named Hank Green who has a YouTube channel and

you know and in my mind I'm like why don't you try and be on TV right and it's like because dummy he works for himself and he can buy himself sell you, and he has a gazillion viewers, and he does exactly what he wants. And I'm like, oh, that does sound pretty good too. That does sound pretty good. Yeah. And so I, I mean, I'm, you know, I still, when somebody's like, I'm a YouTuber, I'm like, oh gosh. Yeah. Oh, gee, no, you sweetheart, you know, bless your heart. It's going to change so fast into, can I have job? Yes, exactly. Hire me, please. Do you need old man? I'll take one percent of your income. Yeah. Do you need old man to throw pies at me catch pies your face very good as long as i can have the pies that we

don't use take them home um yeah no it's it's a different world i don't know what that's yeah i've talked to you know occasionally talk to students there's somebody that used to work at conan is teaching tv production now and i talked to a class just recently and they're like what do we do and how to get it in the business i'm like i don't fucking know sure you know you're an old man you know that just rode in horses. How do microchips work? Yeah, yeah. I don't know.

You know, I guess get on the internet and get famous. Well, you see the tech exploding so fast that AI, I think, is a threat first and foremost to the YouTube. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, if you're living on the phone, if you're absorbing content through here, that's where AI is going to strike gold first. Yeah, yeah. And I am finding such joy in live performance now. Like, I've been lucky enough to do a little bit of theater in recent years.

And that it's, I think, like, I'm constantly going, like, do I love this because it's sort of like the first cut? Like, this is my first true love was doing theater and school and being in a rehearsal space and doing blocking and wearing Capizio shoes. Constantly, only the best. My Ben Nye kit at my side. Or is there something truly like that AI. that the tech can't compete with, which is a being in a shared space and having a shared moment

that is only, you know, that is so finite and so fleeting as life can be. Yeah. I don't know. Or is it just old man protectiveness? No, I mean, I think there definitely is, I mean, human connection is always going to be there.

But I mean, I do worry about poor little human connection being up against these machines, you know. immediacy and convenience and comfort. Yeah. Yeah. Can't you tell my loves it grow? Do you prefer doing live stuff now?

Always. Yeah. Oh, like my whole career I've learned and defined, like, where have I felt the most fulfilled? Yeah. It's doing something live. And that was the greatest gift and joy of Saturday Night Live. Right, right. You could think of something in a panic on Tuesday, and America could see it Saturday night.

Yeah, yeah. There's nothing like that. Well, the Conan show, you can think of it. You can think of it on the drive to work and it's on that night. Right. That was for me. When I came back to work for him, I was like, I had been out here working on prime time television. And I was like, wait a minute, I can think of shit like and put it on TV.

Like, just put it right on TV without having to have a meeting or 18 meetings. Yeah. So, yeah, no, I get it. Yeah. Yeah. I love, and it is, there is nothing like, in the performer part of me, you have the most control when it's live like that. Yeah, yeah. And being a control. Right, exactly. There's no multiple takes where they try and get you to do it again. Try one way, you say it, right, just on the page and like,

throw it away, put nothing of yourself into it. Right, right, exactly. Okay, great, great. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, no, I love it and I, and hope to moving forward do as much as possible, particularly musical theater, which I have a soft spot for. Do you still do, like, kind of groundling stuff on a regular basis? I'll jump in now and then, not as much as I wish. Not as much as I wish. I really did love the sketch more. I loved the company feel of it.

Right. Of being backstage in the green room and the dumb bit that you're not even thinking about becomes the character that's successful in the next main show. So hopping in for an improv show every three to six months with a cast you're not as familiar with Yeah, yeah. Doesn't have quite the same thrill. No, it doesn't. And also I'm a West Sider.

And so just... Yeah, no. It took... Andy, it took me 52 minutes to get here today. You know what I mean? Well, you got to move. But I'm happy to be here. You must move.

You got to move. Yeah, no, I'm the same. Like, my thing with doing, with doing, like, why don't you go and do, you know, an hour and a half improv with... And to me, it's always too, like, people who are... they're 25 to 30 years younger than you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why don't you go do that?

And I'm just kind of like, I don't leave the house to get nervous, you know? I worked really hard for a nice house. Yeah, I like my house. And I'm, you know, and if I leave the house, it's to do something that doesn't make me nervous. Right. Exactly. I am not the improv stalwart that some of my, because I mean, now, now it seems like the people that I came up with aren't as. Like, I've got to do, I've got to do the long-form show every Sunday or every Thursday or whatever.

It seems, they've seemed to kind of backed off a little bit. It's a younger person's game. Yeah, there was definitely, there were years there where I felt like, oh, geez, look at all my, all my friends are still, they're still out there. Still doing it, yeah. Yeah, still out there doing the whole thing. I have no greater respect for any sort of performative medium than improv comedy because when it's successful and when people are good at it, it's untouchable. Yeah. It is like magic. It's so... But it only works in the same room. That's the thing.

Correct. You put it on TV and nobody gives a shit. I tried doing some Zoom improv shows during the pandemic. It was just torture. I bet. It was just like, well, I think I'm ready for a sandwich. Yeah, yeah. Should I get that? No, you can't have a sandwich. Sorry, no, you go. Yeah, this is the best sandwich shop in the...

I'm cold now. It just... Just a full mess. There was an Improv Olympic reunion show in Chicago at the Chicago theater that the producer of the show obviously had lowballed everything. And they had, I don't know, they had like 15 lavalier mics, you know, like, which for people I don't know, it's like a little clip on mic with a wire and then a little battery pack. And they had tested them. And I was standing there when they were testing them, but they tested them all one at a time. So the first improv scene started, and they turned on all 15 of them at once, and it fried the circuitry of whatever the receiver was. So we had an entire, an entire improv show to do with two corded microphones at the Skagit Theater that were laying.

So if you, like, wanted to make an entrance, you had to like go over and pick up a corded line. Sliding in the third. Hello, you know. I'd like to buy a duck, you know. it was oh it was just i i just stood there i stood backstage at one point looking like out at the alley and thinking like i could just just go i could just walk out and just go i mean granted my mom's in the audience but i'll meet up with her later yeah so bad yeah it's tricky it's tricky but but you you also need to have that like hunger right yeah yeah you have to have

the I'm gonna I'm gonna you know and there's so much discovery about it that I wonder if that's part of it too you get to a certain point in life like you're looking back as much as you're looking forward you know and suddenly life feels less funny yeah it sure does but but no but I mean I do think like it's important the one thing I do think is really important and you know in that it's a big part of improv or it's a big part of the improv that I like which is the playfulness like you do have to maintain. the playfulness. You do have to maintain the wanting to have fun and wanting to make life worth living by laughing as opposed to just everything being dreary. Yeah. No, it's so true. And when you find those kindred spirits that have that same sense of play in other jobs, another TV fit, like it's thrilling, it's exciting because it's like you're finding a long lost relative or something. You know, Jen Lyon, who's the lead on Stumble, is that is like so sharp and funny and playful and given to, and like, I'm just having the best time working with her. And then we kind of get to benefit from the younger cast who are playing all the cheerleader,

like the cheer team, who for a lot of them, it's their first professional job and they're so excited and they know what six or seven means. And like, exactly, exactly, exactly. See, I don't know. Everyone under 30 just chuckled. But it's great because we can kind of drink their youth in, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like old vampires. Correct, correct. Yeah, so it's making for, and to be like on a network series, you know, right now, yeah. 13 episodes, feeling very, it is, it's kind of tapping back into something that I haven't done in a long time. Yeah. It feels really good. Is it fully scripted or is it kind of a hybrid? No, it is. It's pretty well scripted. Jeff and Liz Astroff created.

of the show. What's your character? I play. So Jen is the this coach, is Courtney Potter, the winningest coach in Texas cheer history. And she's sort of shamed away from her successful job and has to start from scratch at a college across town with no funding and no support and a group of misfit, you know, near-do-wells. That's always the get out of here.

Yeah, you'll never. I got to go start again somewhere with a rat. bag tag bunch of weirdos. Correct. Full underdog story, full bad news bears. And I am her husband who's like a successful football

coach, but suffered some very funny but very undefined trauma in an early football game. So your brain's broke. He got broke brain, but he got a big wharf.

At least we can still make fun of football players with broken brains. You know, there's a fun part of CTE. Yeah, yeah. That's hilarious. The lighter side of CTE. That's hilarious. Well, tell me the S&L.

Is that, is that through like an audition process at the groundlings? It is. It's all groundlings. It's, um, I was in Sunday company the first time that we were seen. Um, I think they came to see, I'm pretty, certainly came to see Nassim Padraud. because she had submitted a character tape to S&L, to Tina Faye's people. And so Lorne came and saw the show and flew four of us out to audition from that show. And then two of us got called back two weeks later.

They're like, two of us. And were you one of those? Oh, okay. So she and I auditioned twice, like on the main stage camera test, twice one season. Wow. And then... Did you fly out twice? Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. Oh, my God. It was intense because the first one's like, here's all, I've been dreaming about this for close to 10 years now. And I knew if I got a shot, you know, if you could just see me, I'd have a good chance of getting hired. And here's all my best material. And it's like, great. Two weeks later, what else do you have?

And you're like, let me show you all the dregs I cut from that first audition. Oh, my God. And then Naseem ended up getting it that year. And I was sort of unofficially told, like, it's not now, but it's not never. and we've got our eye on you. Okay. But I put that out of sight, out of mind, went back to groundlings, continued to do work, kind of like saved a little compartment for, well, if I go back again, maybe I should

develop new stuff for that. And then, yeah, a year later, they called out of the blue. You did lay groundwork. You were, like, building, yeah. I was like, what's, like, characters, what is something different? What did they like? What do I feel they liked from? Right.

Why did they bring me out? But also, what's a new move? What's something I can develop? Yeah, yeah. And, yeah. And then third time was a charm, and I got it, I got it that year. Yeah. And, and, I mean, that must have been a thrill, but also.

It was a dream job. Yeah, yeah. True dream job. And, and benefiting from Mad TV to know, like, take it easy. It takes time. Yeah. You know, don't, don't, you know, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Right, right.

Like, I kind of knew that. Hey, everybody put me in your thing. No, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, don't bust in everybody's room. Yeah. And yeah, it was great. And then ultimately very hard, just because it's just hard in its DNA. It's just hard hours.

It's competitive. It's my guess is it's the first time for a lot of people who are hired on that show where they go from being, you're one of the funniest people I've ever met to being in a room with all of the other funniest people anyone's ever met. And it's intimidating and it's draining and stamina and competitive just in the nature of there's eight. eight sketches a week. Yeah. And there's a cast fluctuating between 12 and 18 people. And so, yeah, it was, it, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me and the hardest job I've ever had. Did you find it hard?

Because, I mean, you know, I, I, I was in a different class at the same high school, basically for a number of years. So I would, and also kind of like, through lulls, too, like, you know, the ups and down. of it. And I would hear different, you know, over the years, it seemed to get much better in terms of just a work environment in terms of having a like collegial spirit, like all for one. And was it, was it that that your case? Or did you feel like it was hard to break into certain little niche groups? No, I think in my time, well, the niche groups from what I have observed are only for survival, right? If you can find someone you connect with and like

and that your batting average is going to go up because you're only working with that person and also who knows how to use you. Exactly right. You share you you know the same melody. You know you write the same kind of music but I certainly in my time never felt that like there were mean faction

that they were bullet like everybody was doing their best and the competitive nature of it only came out of limited space for a larger population. Yeah, yeah. And also that kind of competition is good. Can be. Yeah, it strengthens the comedy gene pool.

Well, I mean, I noticed that people who didn't take it personally who were motivated by either failure or spite or being told no, you know, and like would rise against that were tended to be the ones who were most successful and those who tended to take things personally, speaking for myself. and were more sensitive and tended to create their best work out of play, joy, happy, laugh at the mistake, but find the beauty in it. Yeah, yeah. It was a tougher row to hoe for sure. It was tougher that you just became your own worst enemy in a lot of ways, right? Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, on the Conan show, I always felt, especially because, I mean, there are similarities,

between the two shows. And, but they're, you know, we had to put out a show every night. So there was, there was a different kind of pressure, you know. But did that help with the preciousness of it? Yes. Yeah. No. And, well, and it became, it was like triage.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like, you know, it's like, but instead of like the most wounded person, it's like, what's the funniest thing? Available. That's not funny. Get that shit out of here, you know. Yeah, yeah.

And there were people that had a hard time. with that and that would think of an idea and that and it was just sometimes it was so hard to watch yes because there and i and i and i in some ways i could understand but also i was at the receiving end of it plenty of times i had plenty of times i would have a bit and everyone that i thought well this is really funny and then it was you know other people are like actually it's not yeah right right right right right fucking move on you know yeah um but there were some people that just couldn't let it go and it was always so hard too because we you know and and it did end up kind of being aside with the head writer but like I definitely you know Conan and I had like a

final say about what went out the door and there were high standards there's just like sometimes it's like it's not it's not funny enough totally you know and people would it would be a produced bit and it would suck to say it, but I mean, yeah, sorry. Yeah, and it's, it's, it becomes, it's a system thing, right? But when you're creating art, it's such a personal thing. Yeah, yeah. And that's, I think that's been something I'm, I'm proud of in my journey as, as an adult,

is that with time away from it, you see that part of it better. I see that part of it better. That, yes, comedy is subjective. So it's easy to argue when you're hearing it's not funny enough. it's easy to argue, well, for you. Right, right. But it is also, like, there becomes, I feel like in a production, in a long-running production, like Conan's show and like SNL,

there does become a sort of democratic central voice. Yes. There becomes a bit more like, no, this is what things are, this is what an audience is responding to right now. Yes. Even if it hasn't always been that brand throughout the history of the show, right now this is what it is. And, and yeah, you're, everybody is doing the best they can.

Yeah, yeah. Everybody is doing the best they can with their backs against the wall with a show that must go on. Yes. And there is, you're right, it's that comedy is subjective. But in every job that you have, yeah, there's an alpha. Correct. And that's, and you have to have an alpha that says, I choose this. This is the tone.

And it's, and you can, if you're worried about justice. Yeah, no, no, no. You're going to fucking be very unhappy. Yeah, yeah. And even then, you're probably going to be a little disappointed. You're pissed up, too. Now, you and your wife were you together when you got the job? Yeah, when I was...

Because you guys have been together for a long time, right? We've been together over 20 years. Wow, nice. Colby Smolders is your wife. Yep, actress Kobe, who's on How I Met Your Mother, and she was Maria Hill in the Avengers movies, and is my favorite person. Well, that's good. It's good that that's still going well. Yeah, yeah.

Because that, you know, sometimes... It's not a lot. always the case. And every car runs out of gas. I hear at least 50% of the time. But when I got hired, we were not yet married, but we had a one-year-old child. Oh, wow. And then we got married right before my third season. Okay. And then our second child was born during my fifth season. Okay. Yeah. And it was tricky because she was still doing how I met your mother when I was hired. So for four seasons, I was commuting back and forth. Oh, my God. Which was its own, yeah, its own challenge. But, you know, it was the job that I'd been pursuing for a decade.

And yeah, yeah, there's no way I was going to say no. And then when how I met your mother finished, we moved out there full time. And we were there for three years, three in New York. Okay. Based in New York. And how many years were you on SNL? Six years. Six years.

Six years on SNL. And then I was let go and we, you know, it was like late into the year and our child was already in the school system. So we had another year where I wasn't on the school. show but i fortunately like my rebound job was i got to play king george the third in hamilton oh my god that's great it was and that's a fucking fun role it's the best yeah yeah it is in terms of like in terms of joy appreciation pride positive environment it's like the best job i've ever had was it was it was it i mean when i mean you said it you were let go from s and that had to sting a little

so this is probably a good rebound. It really, I could not think of a better New York-based job to feel good about myself again. Yeah. Because without exaggeration, for the six years I was on SNL, I didn't receive half as many requests for tickets as I did in the three months I was in Hamilton. Oh, wow.

Like, it just, I mean, every week. And it was the hottest ticket in town. And you're doing eight shows. And I had to work a lot less hard in terms of I didn't have to think of a brand new idea every week. And I just loved it. It's a very isolated, like you come out, you get your, you get your score, and then you go away and you come out and score again. I would, I would in the time between, because like between the first and second song is like 30 minutes and then between the second and third song is like 45, something like that.

So I would go to the other, I would go backstage and on Broadway, especially for a show that big, you have swings. You have like understudies and swings in case heaven forbid anything goes wrong. But they'll do like a swing-sing-thru and they'll refresh. They'll have like rehearsals happening during the show. Oh, wow. And I would like go join that and like climb up, you know, four flights of stairs in my king shoes. Yeah, yeah. What are you doing here?

I'm like, this is my first time I broke away and I freaking love the show. I can't believe we're here. This is amazing. I'm the phantom of the opera. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And so I got voted most social king.

By the time I left, they awarded me most social king. that's great it was yeah it was it was just the best feeling and then my wife cobi when she moved out her only creative goal for herself is i want to do broadway and she's she has a love for plays more than musicals and she worked really hard for three years was i mean dozens of auditions and stuff and nothing just connected nothing was the right the right fit and then i start hamilton in january And I think, like, three weeks into my run, she auditions for this Noel Coward play Present Laughter with Kevin Klein and hooks it. Oh, wow.

And so she's like, hey, we're going to be doing Broadway at the same time. And we have this beautiful, perfect chapter like that will forever be locked in like a beautiful glass orb is what I'm seeing. Where we'd have built in dinner dates Wednesdays and Saturdays on the two show days. Oh, wow. It didn't make sense to, like, go home for 30 minutes only to make your child upset with you for maybe. So we had like four weeks of beautiful dinner dates twice a week, which is just like a perfect experience for anybody listening, anybody in a struggling relationship. If you can both book Broadway shows and have really delicious fine dining and midtown restaurants, it's going to turn things away. Oh, that's so great.

Yeah. And then because we were both doing it, our sweet girls had no mom or dad for bedtime six nights out of the week. So I backed out a little bit earlier than I was intending to Hamilton so she could finish her run. You know what? Fuck those kids. Listen, you want to get into that. That's a whole different podcast. Hey, free loaders, get a job. Right, exactly. What, are you going to cheer for me? When I'm putting you in bed. Are you going to throw roses? They applauded for me in my red cape. I was like a god. Free good night moon. Yeah. In a British accent? No. No.

You rick-a-fri-vig-r-r-r-r-h-do you, I mean, at this point now, are you happy doing comedy? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, and so much prefer. To the, yeah, okay. Gosh, I've had opportunities to do more dramatic fair and appreciate it and love it. But to go to work and have the goal be make people laugh, it's like there's nothing better. Yeah. No, there's nothing better.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, be an idiot and be, you know, like. Like, there's always part of my brain that's dedicated to cutting together a blooper reel for whatever I'm working on. You know what I mean? I'll give you two to three decent-ish usable takes and then I'm going to swing for the goddamn fences because worst-case scenario, we will have the best rap party blooper reel in history. Yeah, and there's always, when they want you to do something you don't want to do, it's like, just try the way we say and then you can do it. And I'm always, I'm always kind of like, I'll do it. I'll try and make you think that I'm doing it.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's only when, it's only when there's not a conversation about it. Like, if they can argue, we want it this way and here's why. Yeah, that makes sense to me. I'm on board. Sure. But when it's like, just do it just this way.

Just because it's how I want it. Yeah. It's always a little trickier for sure. Oh, yeah. And I was like, for me, to me, it's always like, you know, oh, yeah, we. Why do you want to do it that way? And versus the way I have? Oh, is it because you're funnier than me?

You can't be funnier than me, motherfucker. There's no way. You want to have a funny off? Let's go. It is quantitative at this point. There's a resume. No, there's, I mean, that's the ego part of me that comes true. 100%.

And have seen things cut together all the time where they were absolutely right. I've seen my work. I've seen my work and like, oh yeah, no way. I get it. Okay. So, I mean, are you planning on kind of just, are there big dream projects that are sort of off to the side for you? Yeah, always, always. I directed a film and loved that experience and it took everything from me. And I, the biggest lesson was I learned, like, I didn't give it enough, you know? So I'm constantly writing, rewriting.

Why do you, what do you mean you didn't give it enough? I just was I just was not experienced enough and I think my journey with getting that film made was I had to be like cheerleader producer this is going to work yeah yeah yeah go

and was not sophisticated, knowledgeable prepared enough to be the critic you need to be when you are the alpha on set when you are the director and when you especially the writer director and then you are arrogant enough

to put yourself in it as well. Oh my God. You have to look at it and have some sort of close to objective sense of this is working or not. Right, right. And I think I was, I think one of the many shortcomings of that achievement that I'm very proud of. Yeah. Um, is I really had to, for survival, have rose colored glasses on. And I had to be like, this is working and thank you for doing this. And I'm so happy and let's keep it positive. Yeah. And that was great. That tick was great. and didn't have, um, the courage, the, the, the, the, or just this sort of like boss pants level. Yeah.

Yeah. That's not right. That doesn't work with you like this. Which is miles on you. You know, it's like it's, it's a question of mileage. Correct. Next time you'll know. I, that's my hope. Yeah. That's my hope. So that's, that's, that's, I'm always working on that. But, um, I also, I also love like milling now. Like, with, wood. You mean like you have a lathe and stuff? Like I, my neighbor has this like 20 foot mill that he lets me work on with him in the summertime sometime and I, nothing brings me more.

I built a gate. This past summer, I built a gate and I poured concrete footings. And it's all like pretty routing. It looks really good. I did it. It's like, it's like a cheat. But when you look at it from the outside, you don't know it's a cheat. It's like plywood that I use like my table saw to drill the panels into or like to

to burn the panels. And it's just so, there's nothing in showbiz as satisfying to me in the same way of like, there is no gate there. Yeah, yeah. And then I will cut the wood and I will drill the wood

and I will hang the hinges and then there will be gate. Absolutely. It's, and it can be done in a couple days. Yeah, yeah. And that feels wonderful. Oh, absolutely.

I debarked 51, 20 foot logs to Summers. ago. And it's the greatest achievement of my life. And then, and then use the wood. We're going to. It's still drying out because these are big logs. So it has to dry out for a while. And then the ultimate dream is a mill of my own. My favorite Rogers and Hammerstein song. A mill of my own. And yeah, and to just build, build benches. Yeah. And bridges. That's the, I love a deck. A whole deck that I made. And like that energy of like, yeah, my grandfather built this deck when he I want that. That's one of my woodworking, because I grew up in a, like my mom had a cabinet business.

And so, and I, and now I don't, because I don't have the machinery for it. Like you have a neighbor that you can do all that. I'm very lucky. Yes. You need so much of the machinery. You need a shop. You need all the drill bits. You need all the extension.

You need water. You need oil. And time to fuck up. Yes. Time to learn by making tons of mistakes. But I get that like from like, because we live in an old house at the, halfway renovated and it's like from setting a toilet you know like that's that's what I feel like that fucking toilet I did that I put that toilet when every butt that sits on it should know no it was

me my hands were there first I didn't pay anybody I did it myself because I'm cheap it's so good well and also do you find because I'm analyzing it too like my father was a contractor and so like visiting him on I'm really proud of the work he did doing that like he built homes he built shelter and I loved visiting him and I love the smell of sawdust, and I am fully like rosebud sled tapping into my childhood of like, oh, this is what a man does. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is how a man provides.

And he makes something from nothing desperate to tap back into that. Well, and also I do think, like, it's the same thing. I feel like there is a construction. There's a constructive kind of urge that comes, that is storytelling, that is building furniture, that is putting together a meal. You know, there's all these different parameters of this space is empty, and I'm going to fill it with something.

Yeah. And I think that there's similarities to all those things. That's so true. That's profound. That's awesome. I'm a real big fucker. Damn, bro. Shit.

I owe for the win. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you. I'll tell you. Thank you, Del. Thank you for a couple rides home, Del. Let's see. Your new show, Stumble, premieres on NBC.

on November 7th. It's a competitive cheerleading mockumentary in case you didn't know. Oh, okay. And, oh, Kristen Chanoweth is in it. She's a lot of fun. She's an icon. She's the best.

Oh, man. Yeah, go see Queen of Versailles on Broadway right now. I saw an early preview. She's just incredible. Yeah, yeah. She's not of this earth. Yep. And you also do a recurring character on high potential star in Caitlin Olson.

This is true. So that's cool. I am a lucky man. Keeping busy. I'm a lucky guy. Working towards that mill. Because it got to get that mill, cash. Yeah, yeah. I need a million.

Yeah, yeah. And not that, no, not a million. I need about 40 grand. Right, right, right. And then you got to pick which kid will take over the mill. Exactly, which kid's going to go to public school. You must go to, you must take over the will. The mill. It's been prophesized, you will mill. A mill of my own

was what I bequeathed. Daddy, I don't want a mill. I'll kill you. Get out. That's my legacy. Get out. All right. Well, Taryn, thank you so much for coming in.

It was great to see you. And everybody, check out, Stumble. And I'll be back next week with more of this and hopefully in better voice. The three questions with Andy Richter is a team cocoa production. It is produced by Sean Doherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Leow, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross. talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, with assistance from Maddie Ogden,

research by Alyssa Graal. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to the three questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section. Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you feel it ain't you showing? Oh, you must be a knowing.

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